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What We’re Reading

The Los Angeles Times: Fascinating piece by Jonathan Gold suggesting that the 1992 riots in Los Angeles played a crucial role in shaping the city’s strong, decisive restaurant culture. — Eric Asimov

Bloomberg Businessweek: They are called pasties (pronounced PASS-tees), and are nothing more than hot Cornish snacks of meat and veggies baked in pastry. But they have created a firestorm in English politics. Prime Minister David Cameron has proposed an exceedingly unpopular 20 percent tax on hot takeout snacks, and “Pastygate” could harm his Conservative Party in local elections. — Glenn Collins.

Department of Labor: The Obama administration has decided to abandon its plan to enforce child labor restrictions on family farms. — Julia Moskin

Gothamist: It’s National Pretzel Day. And if Auntie Anne’s or the corner vendor aren’t your cup of salt, here are a half-dozen new twists. — Patrick Farrell

Epicurious: What April Bloomfield would eat if there were no price or travel limitations. — Susan Edgerley

Details: Could hand sanitizers, shower curtains and paper receipts be making us fat? …

Grub Street: Martha Stewart, with her trademark flashes of brutal honesty, walks us through what she ate over several days: wonderful bites from her garden and show, “inedible” food at benefits and awards dinners, and her “secret green juice.” — Patrick Farrell

The New York Times: Starbucks is coming on full-strength in China, where sales grew more than 20 percent for the seventh quarter in a row. What’s more, the chain enjoys its highest profit margins there. — Patrick Farrell

Nation’s Restaurant News: And now, the perfect sweetened dessert for that exquisite evening desert meal in a tent under the Middle Eastern stars: cheesecake? It seems that Cheesecake Factory is working with a Kuwait-based franchise group to populate 22 of its restaurants in five Middle Eastern countries, and the company’s chairman is in Asia exploring more opportunities. — Glenn Collins

Star Chefs: The decline and rebirth of romorantin, a little-known but much-loved grape of the Loire Valley. — Eric Asimov

The Wall Street Journal: Vacationing on a farm, from Montana to Tanzania to New Zealand. Roughing it, this is not: “Fair-trade coffee, heirloom veggies and grass-fed beef are par for the course at these retreats.” — Patrick Farrell